This 1/2 term’s school value is that We Are Curious.

“Live life in all its fullness” John 10:10

We gather together as a whole school, three times a week, in our school assemblies.  This is something you’ll remember from your own school experience, although we really try to not make them boring stories from the Headteacher!  (No comment about the brilliant Mr Smith I had!)

Part of our school assembly gathering is also used for Collective Worship.  I sometimes feel that this term isn’t the most user-friendly and we sometimes get parents asking us exactly what it means.  Well, our Collective Worship section, within our assemblies, are a time where our pupils reflect on the story or prompt in the assembly and are given time to think about what they’ve noticed or learnt from it… and everyone would agree that learning about these things are just as important as angles in a triangle, or fronted adverbials.

Yesterday, we introduced the school value that We Are Curious…  we’re always learning… that we should always live life in all its fullness, regardless of how old we are!

The example I gave was that during half term I went on a course learning river water safety and rescue skills – I threw a throw-line and showed a video of me on the River Dart.  The children then thought about what they’d learnt over the last week – something different to their school-related learning.

What have you learnt recently?

(Here’s where you give yourself an answer ………………………….)

I also asked this of our staff… What have you learnt recently?

  • Don’t trust a specific road congestion app – it lied!

  • How to obtain a wee sample from a poorly rabbit!

  • How much the community cares for us (staff) and how much we appreciate and love the children,

  • Children surprise us with their vocabulary,

  • How to paddleboard,

  • How to make an owl impression and call them to the garden at night.

  • The average amount of showers / baths that Class Four children have in a normal week, is 3.6

We’ll be talking about, and using, our school value and its bible passage throughout the half term.  But it’s a great opportunity for us all to reflect upon how we’re living life in all its fullness too.

If anyone wants to read more about our Collective Worship, here’s a link to it.

A snippet…
Collective worship and assembly are not the same thing but it is usual for an act of collective worship to take place during an assembly, either as a small part of the assembly or its entirety.  Collective worship is a special time for pupils to reflect upon their life experiences, stories, prompts or questions that encourage them to reflect and learn about themselves.  This is also the definition of spirituality; that of noticing, pondering and responding in some way to the big wide world.